


pursued by a bear

by inlovewithnight



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 16:18:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6016189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithnight/pseuds/inlovewithnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Willie is a werebear. The bear wants to take care of Aaron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	pursued by a bear

Willie stared out the window at the backyard, one hand holding the curtains back out of the way. Pinot was running around sniffing at the grass, occasionally stopping to pee. The back of Willie’s mind strongly disapproved of that. His yard. His territory. Not the dog’s.

He sighed and looked at the little clump of palm trees in the far corner. Not good enough, but the best he had. This was as bad as LA.

He realized that he was shredding the curtains with his fingernails and let go of them with a wince. Meg wasn’t going to be too happy about that. Shit.

“Is it time already?” she said from the doorway. He jumped and growled, and dammit, he could smell the change in his own scent, going musky with alert and ready to fight.

She half-smiled at him and shifted the stack of towels in her arms. “Put these away. I’ll go bring the dog in and you can do your thing.”

“Is Aaron still coming to dinner?” Talking already felt strange and required extra concentration. Things were moving faster than he thought.

“He is. Do you want me to text him and cancel or will you be done by then?”

He scratched behind his ear, sniffing deeper and flinching away from the detergent scent on the towels. “I’m not sure. I’ll probably be done. I think so.”

“Okay.” She watched him for a moment, then shook her head and set the towels down on the bed. “Oh, babe. We need to get you back home soon.”

Thinking about home— _trees river stone earth sky sniff claws in soil bark sand fish fish fish_ —made him groan deep in his chest. Maybe a growl, from the way Megan raised her eyebrows at him.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “June, with any luck.”

She rolled her eyes. “Maybe a long weekend before then.”

“Maybe.” His skin was starting to hurt. There wasn’t much time. “Could you…?”

She left to get the dog and he waited, tilting his head back and telling himself to just be patient. Soon, soon. Just a few minutes.

**

He was lying on his side under the palm trees, letting the sun warm his belly, when Megan came out of the house. She wasn’t intimidated by him when he was in bear form; she seemed more amused than anything, which was kind of insulting to him as an apex predator but also a nice compliment to her trust in his fundamental _self_ , whichever body it ended up in.

“He’s going to be here in twenty minutes,” she said, stopping a few feet away and wrinkling her nose. Bears smelled. Adult male bears smelled a lot. “Are you coming inside?”

He scratched his chest with one paw and blinked at her. She laughed and moved closer. “Will. Come on. You need to shower and get dressed before Aaron gets here.”

 _Aaron_ sent images rushing through his head—gangly half-grown cub, needed attention, needed guidance. Willie crooned softly and sat up, shaking himself off to shed the blades of grass and bits of dirt clinging to his fur.

Megan patted his head gently. “I’m grilling fish steaks.”

 _Fish fish fish_ , he thought, and dug his claws into the dirt. Florida dirt was all wrong. He wanted to go home.

He remembered Megan saying _soon_ and crooned again, rubbing his head against her. She stumbled sideways, then caught herself, laughing again.

“Stop that,” she said. “Change back now. William.”

He sighed and closed his eyes. When he was in his human body, changing required concentrating, but bears didn’t really _do_ that in the same way, it was more of… chasing something down its burrow-hole, but the something was inside of his chest, and the borrow led to _somewhere else_ and then…

He was a person again, naked on all fours in his yard.

Megan ruffled his hair. “Welcome back. Feel better?”

“It took the edge off.” He got to his feet slowly, wincing at the pain in his knees and back that was much easier to ignore as a bear. “It’s been a while since it was that strong.”

“You’ve had a lot on your mind.” She took his arm in hers and they started toward the house, taking careful steps until he found the rhythm of walking upright again.

“Not really any more than usual.”

“Hmm.” That was the noise that meant she thought he was being deliberately obtuse. There wasn’t time to get into it right now, though; he could hear Aaron’s truck turning into the driveway, early like he’d learned from years of showing up at 10:30 practice no later than 10:00.

“I’ll entertain him,” Megan said, opening the door of the sun porch and pointing toward the stairs. “Go.”

“Yes, ma’am.” _River splash swim_ , flickered in the back of his head, stronger than it should be right after changing back. He pushed it down and headed for the shower, grabbing a towel from the bed as he passed. He would think about all the things that needed thinking about later.

**

Thinking was hard, though. His brain didn’t want to focus, and the bear at the back of his mind was still being pushy, making its way into his thoughts with a constant stream of images and impulses and instinctive reactions.

Aaron kept shooting him puzzled little glances all through dinner. Willie didn’t mean to keep staring at him; the bear just really liked Aaron, liked him _so much_ , wanted to teach him how to live in the woods and make sure he grew into a big, strong adult who could survive many winters.

Megan kept nudging him under the table with her foot. “You’re drooling, babe,” she whispered at one point. “Pull yourself together.”

“I’m still hungry.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and forced his gaze down to his plate. “Is there any more fish?”

She sighed. “I can grill you up another one, but if you have more than that you’re going to make yourself sick.”

“Can you make it rare? Really rare.” He actually wanted raw, ideally still dripping wet from the river, but he was freaking Aaron out enough.

“Are you feeling okay?” Aaron asked after Megan went back out to the grill. “You look kinda flushed.”

“I’m fine. I was out in the sun earlier.” 

Aaron looked at him oddly for a minute, then nodded and looked back to his plate. “You gotta be careful with that.”

Bears never had to worry about the sun. “I’m okay, Eks. What have you been up to?”

Aaron told him about working out, and video games, and going dancing with girls at clubs he _really shouldn’t have been allowed in_ , and Willie listened, concentrating hard on not reaching out and running his fingers through Aaron’s hair. It was not actually necessary to groom him for bugs, no matter what the bear said.

**

The next morning Willie woke up feeling like his skin was on fire. “Fuck,” he managed to say. “Meg, fuck, help—”

Then he rolled out of the bed and was a bear by the time he hit the floor.

Pinot immediately shit himself and dove under the bed, and Willie bellowed in frustration, trying to get out from between the bed and the dresser and make it to the door. His claws were digging into the hardwood, and while the bear wanted to rip it to shreds, the human part of him would rather not have to replace all of it.

Megan sighed and climbed out of the bed, grabbing her robe from the closet. “Will. Come over here.” She pointed to the balcony and he obediently waddled over there, pushing at the doors with his head until the latch broke and he could go outside.

Megan gave him a sour look. “I could’ve opened that for you instead of breaking it, you know.”

He grumbled and climbed over the edge of the balcony, dragging his claws down the siding to slow his descent to the yard. That was going to have to be replaced, too, but that was a human problem.

Megan disappeared back into the house and joined him in the yard a few minutes later. “Okay. Clearly there’s something going on with you as a bear that needs to be addressed.” 

He hid his face behind a hibiscus plant.

“Come on. Figure it out. What’s bothering you? What do you need?”

He slowly crawled over to the patio, where the three of them had sat after dinner the night before, having a drink and talking while the sun went down. He climbed into the chair where Aaron had been sitting and gave Megan a sorrowful look.

She folded her arms over her chest. “I thought so.”

The chair creaked ominously under his bulk. He wiggled around until it broke entirely and he was sitting on a pile of busted-up wood. Much better.

**

He stayed out in the yard, as a bear, all morning. The day got too warm for him, so he climbed into the shallow part of the pool and soaked his belly, grumbling at the stray cat and cluster of birds watching and screaming at him from the bushes.

Around mid-afternoon, when he had moved from the pool to the slowly-growing shade under the palm trees, Megan came out back again, dragging Aaron by the hand. They stopped at the end of the pool deck and stared at Willie. He crawled slightly to the left and put his head behind another hibiscus.

“So Mitchie turns into a bear sometimes,” Aaron said finally.

“He’s done it for as long as I’ve known him.” 

“Is it because he played for the Wild? Their, like, logo or whatever is a bear.”

“No, honey, I think it’s just part of who he is.”

“Oh.” Aaron frowned and took a step closer. “And you think he wants to see me for some reason?”

“The bear does, yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.”

Aaron cleared his throat. “Uh. Bear? Mitchie? What do you want?”

The part of Willie that was a human wanted to either run away or laugh until he fell over. The bear, though, had simpler plans. He lumbered out from behind the hibiscus and over to Aaron, sniffing him thoroughly from shoes to shoulders.

Aaron’s nose wrinkled but he didn’t pull away. “Hey, Mitchie.” Willie licked his face. Aaron gasped and laughed, steadying himself on Megan’s arm. “Dude, your breath is awful.”

Willie crooned and put his paws on Aaron’s shoulders, drawing him in close as he sat back on his haunches. He pulled Aaron firmly against his chest and started grooming him, a complicated process of sniffing and licking and pawing all over.

“What is happening?” Aaron asked. His voice was all high-pitched and funny; a nervous cub. Willie licked his face again, trying to soothe him. It didn’t work, though, he kept squirming around, and finally Willie had to push him down to the ground and hold him there with his paws.

“Don’t hurt him,” Megan said, poking Willie in the side. “Be gentle.”

Willie sneezed at her and went back to licking and sniffing. He rubbed his face against him, too, mingling their scents. That felt better, more right. His cub should smell like him.

“You’re ridiculous,” Megan said with a sigh. “Aaron, are you okay?”

“Yes,” Aaron said, his voice slightly muffled. “Doesn’t hurt. I just, uh. I don’t get it.”

“You’ll have to wait and ask him when he changes back.”

Willie shoved his nose up under Aaron’s shirt and sniffed at his stomach. Aaron gasped. “When will that be?”

“It’s hard to say.” Megan thumped Willie’s side again. “I told you you should’ve talked to him sooner.”

Willie ignored her and licked Aaron’s belly button. _Cub cub cub_ , he thought, and flopped down in the grass, pulling Aaron close to his body again and settling in to nap.

**

Willie woke up as a person when the sun was dipping behind the trees. He groaned and sat up, wincing as the fresh bug bites on naked skin made themselves known. “Fuck,” he muttered, pushing his hair back from his forehead. 

Aaron was asleep, curled up in the grass, his body still fitted to the curve of where Willie’s had been. Willie stared at him for a moment, then stood up carefully and made his way to the house. He needed clothes. And water. Clothes first, though.

There was a note taped to the back door, from Megan, saying she had gone down to the beach and that he should TALK TO AARON. All caps, underlined. He made a face at it and went upstairs, finding his pink terrycloth shorts and a Kings t-shirt. Comfort clothes. Armor.

That was about as much stalling as he could justify. He got two bottles of water from the kitchen and went back to the yard, kneeling down carefully next to Aaron and touching his shoulder. “Eks? Wake up, bud.”

Aaron grumbled and rolled onto his back, blinking up at the sky. Willie wrinkled his nose; as a human, he could say that Aaron _reeked_ , all bear musk and sweat. His shirt and sweats were probably a lost cause. Burning them would be more effective than washing.

“Water,” Willie said kind of stupidly, waving the bottle at him. “We were out here for hours, we both need to hydrate.”

Aaron accepted the bottle and twisted the cap off, squinting at him. “You’re a person now.”

“Yeah.” Willie shrugged and stretched his legs out, taking a drink. “Sorry about the whole… thing.”

“’s fine.” Aaron was quiet for a moment, just drinking. “So, like, in the movies, people are werewolves if they get bitten by a werewolf. Is that what happened? You got attacked by a bear?”

“No.” Willie wished he had an actual explanation to offer the kid. “It just kind of happened. It’s part of me. The first time, I was about your age. Maybe a little younger. I was hiking in the woods and I just… changed.”

“Does it hurt? Is it scary?”

“It hurts right before I change. But it’s not scary. It just kind of feels like what’s supposed to happen.”

Aaron nodded a little and finished his water. “Kind of cool.”

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” Aaron smiled at him, his crooked little smile that Willie always wanted to correct with his fingers. “Smelly, though.”

“Sorry about that. Megan hates that part.”

“I bet I’ll get used to it.” Aaron got to his feet and stretched. “Does anybody else on the team know?”

“Bobby and Thorty, but we don’t really talk about it.” 

“Understood.” Aaron nodded. “Locker-room silence.”

“Thanks.” Willie hesitated a moment, then stood up and pulled him into a hug. Aaron came easily, thank god. If the bear thing freaked him out and drove him away, Willie didn’t really have a backup plan.

“See you at practice tomorrow?” Aaron asked, resting his chin on Willie’s shoulder.

“Definitely.” Willie squeezed him tight and let him go. “Battle drills. I’m gonna kick your ass.”

Aaron grinned and shook his head. “Keep dreaming, old man.”

**

The next two weeks were pretty normal; practices, naps, games, a couple of good hard checks into the boards that left him limping but still skating. Aaron got a goal and two assists, so the bear hugs obviously hadn’t messed him up. Things were good.

Which made it even worse, like pulse-pounding scary, when he got a text from Aaron after his post-practice nap one day that just said _Need you to come over ASAP_.

He texted a series of question marks, but didn’t get an answer before he was in the car and driving over to Aaron’s apartment. He tried to focus on driving and not on coming up with a list of things that might’ve happened. It didn’t exactly work, but what the hell, that garbage can had it coming.

He had to wait to be buzzed in at the apartment building, another miserable minute and a half, but finally he was pounding on Aaron’s door, and it opened, and he could see that Aaron was okay.

Aaron’s clothes were rumpled and his hair was sticking up in all directions, but he was _okay_. Willie exhaled and caught himself on the doorframe. “Jesus, kid. You scared me.”

“Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh.” Aaron looked over his shoulder, then stepped back and gestured at Willie to come in. “Probably easier to just show you.”

Willie followed him to the living room and stopped in his tracks, the smell of predator musk and the sight of the completely shredded couch hitting him at once. “What the…”

“It was like you said.” Aaron waved his arms, then wrapped them around himself. “It just kind of happened.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It was kinda cool!” Aaron grinned. “But I wrecked the couch.”

“Yeah, that happens.” Willie took a step toward the mess of upholstery, breathing deep. The bear in the back of his head was really happy about all of this. The smell was just right. “Bear, huh?”

“Yeah.” Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. “So, uh, you think you can help me haul this out to the dumpster? I can’t really explain it to anybody else, you know?”

“Oh, yeah. No problem.” Willie moved around to the far end of the couch and lifted it carefully. “Yeah, between the two of us we can get this downstairs.”

They carried the couch to the service elevator and waited, leaning against the wall. “So,” Aaron said, “you think maybe we could go out to the Everglades on our next day off?”

“What for?”

Aaron shrugged. “Sit under trees. Maybe you can show me how to fish?”

Willie frowned at him. “You know how to fish, we go fishing all the time.”

“I mean as bears, dude. The bear is, like. Super-into fish.”

“Oh!” Willie laughed. “Yeah, kid. We can do that.”

 _Cub fish sleep,_ the bear sang in the back of Willie’s head. _Sun sand water fish fish fish_. From the faraway look in Aaron’s eyes, he was thinking the same thing.


End file.
